Hide and Seek
by PrisciT
Summary: Space Opera AU. It's the year 4008. Humanity has colonized several planets. Clones are now the normal and often times only form of conception. An alien race poses a threat to humanity, but more specifically to our clones. Now they must run away and fend for themselves. Alison X Beth, Cophine. Longer description inside. ON HIATUS. SORRY GUYS.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything like that.

NOTE: This is an space opera AU. I'm still working through some plot points, but you'll see a lot of the show characters and storylines (adapted, of course) throughout the fic. I don't know how often I'll update, or how long it will be, but it'll be pretty long. It's a cophine fic, so Delphine will eventually show up. It's also a Beth/Alison fic, so keep out if that's not your thing. If you find any type or any bad english, please let me know and I'll fix it. Also, Beth is obviously my own creation as a character, and I'm writing how I think she was.

_It's the year 4008. Humanity has gone off and colonized a bunch of places. Because of that, giving birth for those not native to Earth no longer have the ability to give birth. So humanity found the solution by cloning. Those that can afford it can have clones altered to look like them, or to look however they want them to look. Those that can't, or simply won't for ideological differences, get a randomly assigned cloned individual. And so were our clones born. Except a different race, called Neo, is accusing the human race of stealing their ways of cloning. Now, clones everywhere are running to Earth, hoping that they will receive protection. And so are our clones, except they keep running into trouble and getting lost._

**Chapter 1**

The five clones and Alison's children sat at the kitchen in silence. Well, at least Cosima, Alison, Beth and Sarah did. Helena was crouched in one of the corners of the room playing with the kids, not so quietly. The others, sitting at the rectangular dinner table, were looking at each other, and then looking down in an awkward way. The kitchen was the largest common room in the ship, so it only made sense to hold their first meeting in there. Nobody wanted to talk, but somebody had to.

"So, can someone explain how, from all the planets, and all the places, we all managed to get stuck in the same ship." Sarah finally blurted out, half angry, half curious.

"We're not stuck" Alison jumped in, while rubbing her neck.

"We are going to Earth, and it's going to take a billion years. I call that stuck." Sarah responded.

"It's more like 15 years. And we're not forbidden to stop in the way. It's just safer if we don't." Beth said calmly.

"It's 13 years and 5 months." Cosima added. "I agree that it's very unlikely that we would all end up in the same spacecraft. But we're all here now, and we can analyze the probabilistic chances later. We..."

"What we need to do is figure out what we do and how we can help. I volunteer for cleaning and cooking." Alison cut in.

Both Cosima and Sarah stared at Alison in annoyance.

"I have some experience with fixing ships." Sarah said completely uninterested, just wanting the conversation, and really the whole thing, to be over.

"How much experience? I don't want to put the life of my children on the hands of someone with "some experience"" Alison once again interrupted, making Sarah roll her eyes.

"Enough experience. Worst case scenario we end up in a fueling station and call in for help. We'll be fine." Sarah said.

"Yes, and I'm sure Paul can also help if we have any problems." Beth added.

"He's the pilot, he has enough on his hand. I'm sure Sarah can figure it out. I can be the medic. My area is astrobiology, so I'm not exactly a medical doctor, but it's not like we'll be analyzing different species out here."

"I'll take care of the children." The room was suddenly quiet as Helena finally spoke up.

Alison's look of surprise merged into one of indignation.

"I don't need someone that behaves like a child to take care of my children. I need someone who's sane, not insane."

Whatever else Alison was about to say was silenced by Sarah, who jumped out and slapped her so hard she fell out of her chair. Cosima jumped to hold Sarah back, while Beth helped Alison to her feet.

"Calm down, dude." Cosima said to Sarah still holding her back.

Beth headed to the sink and got a towel wet. She came back and cleaned the blood coming out of Alison's mouth.

"I guess I'll be the one keeping an eye on everyone and making sure we all behave." Beth said, giving a pointed look to Sarah.

"She called my sister insane. She's lucky all she got was a slap." Sarah shrugged Cosima off her and went to Helena. Helena was sitting down holding her knees in a protective stance. When Sarah came around, she hid her face in Sarah's elbows and let her sister hold her.

The other three looked at the pair for a few minutes, and soon looked away to give them some privacy. Alison looked down, feeling ashamed, but not willing to apologize after what Sarah had done. Cosima looked in deep thought, although what she was thinking about is anyone's guess.

Beth continued cleaning Alison's mouth, until there was no more blood coming out of it. She then set the towel on the table.

"I should probably take a look at that..." Cosima said quietly, as if afraid talking louder would trigger Sarah into jumping on Alison again.

"We need to finish this conversation first. Elizabeth, you should also help with make sure we are properly supplied. I can help with coming up with a list of what we need." Alison said after finally composing herself.

Her voice quivered in certain parts of the conversation, but the other pretended not to notice. Sarah returned to the table, obviously tense, and Alison tensed up as well.

"It's Beth and I can do that. Besides, my contacts with the police might help if we need anything special or hard to find." Beth added with a little smile.

"Ok, seems like that is settled. We can take care about the rest after I take a look at Alison. If you'll follow me, I have med supplies back in my room." Cosima said, with the intent of separating the two clones. Beth nodded in thanks in her direction.

* * *

"I'm sure Alison didn't mean what she say. We've been forced out of our home to live with people we've never seen before. You can't hold it against her not trusting any of us." Beth said calmly, trying to placate the angry clone.

"It's no excuse to calling Helena insane. She's perfectly sane." Sarah said, quickly glancing at her sister.

"No one here thinks she's insane. She simply meant the way she was playing with the children instead of sitting with us and trying to figure out the situation."

"I don't know why you're defending her. It was bullshit her calling Hel like that, and you know it."

"I'm just trying to play my role here as a pacifier. Yes, she was wrong, but we have to stay calm the first few days. It'll take some time to adapt to this new life." Beth touched her fellow clone in the arm, but was quickly shrugged off.

"Or we could just keep to our rooms and keep out of each other's way. Hel, let's go"

With that, Sarah stood up, took her sister's hand and left the kitchen. The blonde clone said goodbye to her new friends, and followed her sister.

Beth sighed, and shook her head.

_It's going to be a very long torturous 15 years._


	2. Chapter 2

NOTE 1: If you're a Paul fan, I suggest you go no further. He's not going to be a nice guy here.

NOTE 2: Delphine will show up next chapter. I wanted to introduce her in this chapter, but I'm trying to keep the chapters under 2,000 words, so it didn't happen.

NOTE 3: The next few chapter will be mostly them getting to know each other. The plot won't show up for a while. It's too fun to write them banter and bicker.

* * *

"Hey, Beth. How's everything?" Paul said as said clone entered the cockpit, keeping his attention forward.

He rubbed his eyes. It had been a long day. After getting the order by the Intergalactic government that they were to leave, and his own task of being responsible for the delivery of several clones, they had one day to pack up. He honestly didn't think they would have put him in the same ship as Beth, much less identical clones to her. The worst of all was that they put him in a cargo ship. If the Neo decide to attack them, or any other hostile life, they are screwed.

"It's a mess. Alison and Sarah are obviously not big fans of each other. There was a fight already, a physical fight."

"Huh. You would think a bunch of people coming from the same DNA would be able to get along."

Beth looked at her boyfriend pointedly, trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic or not. Most of the days she couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

"So, I was thinking." Beth tried to change subjects.

"Well, that never works out well." Paul added with a smirk, condescendingly.

Beth rolled her eyes, but ignored him otherwise.

"You should teach me how to pilot."

"What? Why?" Paul said, finally getting his eyes out of the controls.

"It's going to be a long ride. You can't expect do pilot us everday. You need a break. None of the other clones have any expecience with piloting. Were anything happen to you, even just being sick for a few days, we would be completely lost. Besides, I will only be helping out here by keeping inventory. That won't take much of my time."

"Alright. That makes sense, I guess. And with you being here away from being a cop, you need to get some's skills. Do you want to start now, because I'm really exhausted." He added, rubbing his eyes once more.

"I don't see how piloting a spaceship is going to help my career as a cop." Beth said angrily.

"It won't and that's exactly the point. You really can't expect that when we get to Earth, you'll have a career waiting for you."

"I was the best in my precinct. I have a perfect record. Even after 15 years, I'll still be the best cop in Callisto." Beth's anger was rising, her hands now in a fist.

"We're talking about Earth here, Beth. It's a huge place. It's also where all the humans, and clones came from. Besides, there are 5 of you here in the ship, what makes you think there won't be more of you back there. You need to be realistic." He tried to be comforting, but failed miserably.

"Whatever. You can go rest. Just show me where the autopilot buttons are."

Paul nodded, and quickly showed Beth how the autopilot worked, without adding anything.

"Good luck." he put a hand on her shoulder, comforting her. Beth frowned. To Paul, she was simple puzzled about the controls, but what she was really puzzled about was Paul. She figured that after 2 years she would've gotten used to his hot and cold moods. She wasn't sure how the travel would affect their relationship, and she wasn't sure if she was looking forward to it or not.

"Yeah, go rest. I'll call if you're needed." Beth said, giving Paul a small smile. A fake smile, but somehow he didn't even notice. Once Paul left, she sighed loudly, and tried to keep composed. A tear fell from one of her eyes, and she quickly wiped it away, and cleared her throat. She tried to pull herself together again, and finally managed. She took a quick look at the radars, the maps, and not finding anything abnormal, she set up an alarm to alert about any anomaly.

She left, thinking about checking out the ship's gym.

* * *

Once Cosima was done with Alison, she headed for the cargo bay for a little bit of peace. That and a smoke. She really needed a smoke. She know she shouldn't smoke on the ship, but she figured she deserved it. Sarah was obviously a hothead, Alison a control freak, and Beth… Well, she hadn't figured her out yet. Either way, she got stuck with a very stressful group. Everyone has their own way of relaxing, and this was hers. That and studying Neo. But she couldn't very well do that in the ship. The others might become suspicious, and she didn't need that.

She lighted her pot cigarette with a match, and sat on one of the craters of supply. She laid her head back against the wall. She closed her eyes, and thought about the universe, about the Neo and the whole mess they were in because of them.

"Hi" Helena said.

Cosima wasn't really sure where the blonde had popped out of, but she managed to not be scared.

"Hello" She responded, shifting in an attempt to hide her smoking.

Helena obviously noticed but didn't say anything. She moved across the room and sat opposite to Cosima on the floor. She looked down and started drawing patterns on the ground.

"Where's Sarah?" Cosima said quietly, not really sure what else to say.

"She's gone somewhere." Helena said, her focus still on the invisible drawings on the ground.

Cosima didn't say anything, just looked at the other clone, and tried to make out the patterns she was drawing.

"She's not the boss of me. But she takes care of me. People are mean." Helena mumbled.

"Yeah, they can be." Cosima answers with an understanding smile. "Alison didn't mean it though. She's just letting off some steam." Cosima was surprised at hearing herself say that.

"It's not only her. Kids at school too. Mom separated us because Sarah send another child to the hospital. She hasn't changed that much." Helena continued saying, without any emotion in her voice. She didn't waver and she didn't stop drawing.

"Do you want my match? That way you'll be able to see what you're drawing." Cosima offered, extending her hand.

Helena took it, barely moving, with a quiet thanks. She continued drawing, using the black piece of wood. Instead of waves and circles, she started to draw people.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, Helena drawing and Cosima looking. She eventually went back to smoking.

Some time later one of the clones called them for dinner, but Cosima couldn't figure out which one.

* * *

Alison walked into the kitchen only to find Beth and Sarah fighting each other. After getting over the initial shock, and a quick look at Beth's form, she finally cleared her throat.

"Yeah?" Sarah said, avoiding a punch from Beth.

"I thought you were supposed to be keeping us from fighting." The mother said to Beth.

"We're not fighting, we're boxing." Beth exhaled, breathing hard. She motioned her fists towards Alison quickly, then got back to the fight.

"Couldn't you do this at the cargo bay? I need to do dinner. And now I need to clean the kitchen too. Of all of them, you seem to be the most rational, Elizabeth."

"Oi, what's that supposed to mean?" Sarah looked at Alison, and was punched in the process.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't think you would have your guard down. I didn't mean to punch you so hard." Beth said apologetically and paused the fight.

"It's fine. We're fighting, aren't we?" Sarah added. "Let's go. Queen Bitch over there has to clean up." She touched her tender jaw and moved out of the room.

Both Beth and Alison were about to protest the nickname, but paused and looked at each other. Alison looked at the face of the woman who seemed to defend her at every move, without even knowing her. Beth at the woman who hardly defended herself. They could clearly seen pain etched in each other's eyes, a pain of keeping secrets and keeping appearances. But they also knew how the whole game worked, so they didn't say anything.

"I'll let you clean. Sorry about that, I didn't think. She was sitting here, and I couldn't resist the idea of punching her as soon as I could." Beth said, trying to lighten up the room.

"Well, do you prefer to have her sweat as salad dressing?" Alison added with a smile, obviously trying for a joke. Beth laughed and put a hand on Alison's shoulder. The mom looked at the hand, and smiled even wider. "Thanks, anyway."

"For what?"

"For standing up for me. I'm not used to having that" The mother looked down, blushing.

"You're ok, kid. You shouldn't think so little of yourself." The cop squeezed Alison's shoulder.

"You do know we're probably the same age, right?"

"So? After Sarah, you're the one that throws more temper tantrums." Beth said with a blinding smile.

"Hey!" Alison punched her in the arm, and even though it didn't hurt, the supposedly older cop yelled.

"That didn't even hurt, and you know it." Alison responded.

Beth smiled and shook her head. She looked down in thought.

"I'm glad it's you guys I'm traveling with, not some randoms." Beth added and looked up at Alison.

"We are some randoms. We just look the same. I wish I could say the same, but aside from you… well, the others seem complex."

"Are you calling me simple?" Beth said, affronted.

"No, that's not what I meant. It's just… Sarah and Helena obviously have history, and Sarah obviously very vocal about it. And Cosima… I just don't like scientists." Alison added defensively.

"I was joking." Beth responded with a smile. "What don't you like about scientists, the fact that they keep trying to find the truth?" Beth tried to joke, but it obviously fell flat. Secrets are what feed both of clones, kept them alive and going.

"No, that they create me. Created us." Alison added tensely. She turned around, and headed for the sink, obviously done with the conversation. Beth thought of saying something, but realized that they were done. She wish they weren't. She felt strangely drawn to the mother of two.

The cop left in silence, and went looking for Sarah.


	3. Chapter 3

NOTE: Hope you guys enjoy it. I had fun writing this. I'll try to keep it to one chapter a week, but it might be less (or more.)

* * *

The crew of the ship soon settled into a routine. Sarah and Alison would avoid each other at all times, except during meals. Even then, they barely spoke. Alison was nicer to Helena, and had no problem with the blonde babysitting her kids. That was a shock to everyone, including Beth. She didn't think Alison behaved well, but she never thought she would back out.

Cosima, kept a low profile, keeping to the cargo bay and her room. She preferred to be alone, while the other spend some time with each other. All were homesick, and ready to leave the ship. So, after Beth finally came up with an inventory list and the clones sat down to talk about what they needed, and about their much needed time away from the ship.

"We are stopping for fuel soon, so I figured it would be a good time to talk about what we need. We are well stocked with food and bare necessities for at least 2 years, but I thought we should try to make it… well, homier. We are living here for a while, so we should make it ours." Beth started the conversation. She had become their leader by unspoken agreement. She was the only one that managed to talk to Alison and be taken seriously by her.

"This is a government ship. We can't paint the walls pink and have disco balls." Paul said. He had definitely not warmed the last few days, and Beth didn't know how long she could take this. When he was around, he constantly disrespected her, and treated her like a child. Luckily for her, Sarah really enjoyed boxing, so she had an outlet for all the anger she got from the behavior.

Helena laughed out loud, although in her case was more of a snigger. She usually didn't make it to the "grown up" meetings, but she was there already when they arrived, and hadn't made a move to leave.

"Pink is the color of ballerinas. We are not dancers." Helena randomly added with a pout. She had a heavy accent that the rest, with the exception of Sarah, were crazy to ask where it had come from. They didn't actually ask, of course. Sarah would probably lose it if they did, or at least that's what they thought.

"I agree with Helena. I think we're more of a salmon kind of people." Alison added tensely, making the clones look at her with shock, and the cop with infinite appreciation.

The clones laughed, glad for a moment of lightness, specially when Paul was the victim of the teasing. Seemed they all could find a common enemy in Paul.

"If you are done your joking, this is serious. We can't change the ship." Paul stated, not finding any of their joking funny.

"I don't think Beth said anything about changing the ship. Besides, there are several studied that show that personalizing your space ship for long travels have significant improvement in crew relations and life quality." Cosima, of course, added in defense of the others.

"I vote for booze." Sarah said before anyone else could continue the previous conversation. The guy might be hot, but he seriously needed to relax. She was in no mood to deal with him.

"Of course you would." Alison rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything against getting it.

"You want it too. Tell me you don't feel like taking a shot every time we have a human interaction." Sarah replied.

"Alright, you have a point." Alison conceded. Sarah smirked, and Alison tried to hide a smile.

"Besides, we all know a certain someone who has her own recreational habits, we should have our own too." Beth added, eying Cosima. She wasn't upset. Pot, and most recreational drugs, were legal, so she didn't have a problem with it.

"Dude, hand me the money, I told you it was going to be her." Cosima randomly added.

"What?" Beth and Alison said at the same time, clueless about what the scientist was talking about.

"We made a bet. I said you were going to mention my pot habits first, Sarah said Alison would. I totally won. See, you can't beat science." Cosima told Beth, with a know-it-all tone. She was smiling, and feeling pretty good about her self. She might or might not have been in the cargo bay before the meeting.

"Did you make a study on them or something?" Sarah defended herself, not willing to give the victory to the other cloned just yet.

"No, just basic obsevartion. Beth is a cop, of course she would notice it first." Cosima observed.

"You just got lucky." Sarah admitted her defeat in the only way she knew.

"Yes, and I'm going to get even luckier now." Cosima added with a smirk.

"What, you want sex? Isn't that, like, incest?" Sara added, confused.

"Dude, no. I want it in money… actually scratch that. I want a favor. Or like a vote. If we ever have to vote to make a decision, I hold the right to have your vote." The scientist announced.

"That's not fair" Allison complained.

"Fine, whatever " Sarah ignore the mom.

"Not fine. Not whatever… " Alison didn't stop. Beth touched her hand and interrupted before she could go on.

"Ali, just leave it. It's just one vote, only one time." Beth said, trying to calm the mom. They were this close to having a conversation without conflict between the two clones.

"Not if I continue winning bets." Cosima teased Sarah.

"Hey, no more bets, you two." Beth said, using her authority to keep them from fighting.

"I don't have a problem with bets, as long as I get to be part of it." Alison said, really wanting an extra vote.

"Let's just get this over this." Paul interrupted the teasing, or fighting, or whatever they were doing. He didn't care much for their bonding, or them at all. He really wished he hadn't been assigned to pilot their ship.

* * *

Once in the fueling station, the clones went on their ways. Alison took her kids to the kids area of the station. Beth and Paul went to take care of ordering what they needed. If anyone was closely looking, they would have noticed Beth looking at Alison with longing once the mother was off with her kids. But no one was looking, and she went on her way. Sarah and Helena went to the station's bar, which happened to be the place Cosima went as well.

The bar was cramped, but completely empty. They had enough space for a small dance floor, that could fit about 10 people, and a bar with about 10 bar stools. They were playing dance music, but not loudly. Helena headed to the dance floor and started dancing almost immediately. Sarah sat at the bar and ordered a bourbon on the rocks. She ordered a Cape Cod for Helena, knowing that once the blonde was done, she would be thirsty.

Cosima walked in moments later and headed in her direction.

"I know you must be tired of me, but can I sit here?" The scientist asked politely.

"Yeah, it's fine." Sarah said, looking forward and not in Cosima's direction.

Cosima took the hint and sat down in silence. She ordered red wine, and sipped quietly. The scientist wished she could get in contact with her old co-workers. Space travel was something most astrobiologists never got to do. They studied the physiognomy, but kept to their labs. So, being out there, and with a very large chance that she might meet other species, she was super excited and wanted to geek out with her fellow lab nerds. Hell, chances are there were Neo in the station right now.

Neo were a light species. They were like fireflies, except they weren't bugs. They were just an individual source of light. They were like sentient stars. The could be as small as a firefly, but older ones could be the size of a human head. They were also found in human form. Once first contact was made, the Neo were fascinated by the bipedal creatures. Once they discovered human cloning, they found a way to adapt it to their physiognomy. They implanted themselves where the brain would be located.

Some didn't choose the human look, preferring their old form. Unfortunately for humans, the Neo often hid in light bulbs and were almost impossible to differentiate. So Cosima could be looking at one of them in the light builds right now.

"Aren't you getting more pot?" Sarah said after a while.

"Beth said she would try to get it for me. If she could get Paul off her back for a few minutes, that is." Cosima took a sip of her wine and looked at the other clone.

"Dude seriously need to shag someone." Sarah mentioned, turning to look at Cosima.

"The way he treats Beth, I don't see it happening. I don't know what she sees in him." Cosima sighed.

"Well, he could always get himself off. I bet it's been years." Sarah said with a smirk.

"Ew, that's disgusting." Cosima laughed and pushed the other clone. Sarah laughed out loud, a raspy laugh that was very different from the scientist's. She finished her drink and started drinking from Helena's. She didn't like the fruity taste, but she didn't want the drink to go to waste. She would order another one for the blonde later.

"So, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, what's your relation to Helena?" Cosima said hesitantly. She didn't want to make the other clone mad or uncomfortable, but she was genuinely curious. The two other clones were very different.

"We're sisters. Twins." Sarah said. Cosima was not expecting that and reacted accordingly.

"Wow, that's very rare. I mean, even with all our advances in clone making, that's insane." Cosima excitedly said.

"My mom was not expecting it either. She thought of putting Helena up for adoption." Sarah took a sip. Her voice held bitterness. She obviously didn't get along with her mother.

"Is that why she has a different accent then you?" Cosima took the risk to ask. She didn't know when she would have another chance.

Sarah huffed. She knew the clones would be curious.

"No. She only thought about it. We were just raised separately." Sarah was obviously done with this conversation, and with her drink as well. She was tense.

Cosima put a hand on Sarah's shoulder, trying to comfort the clone. She expected to be brushed off, but Sarah just gave a weak smile in her direction.

"Sorry, didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Cosima smiled back, as thankful smile, thanking Sarah for sharing despite her reservations.

"Hi" Helena popped up. Sarah signaled the bartender for drinks.

"Hey. Did you have fun?" Sarah smiled. The change in her was obvious. She wasn't as tense when Helena was around. She was generally with her walls up, but around Helena they were less obvious. She was also happy about having her sister around.

"You have some sweet moves."Cosima smiled Helena's way.

"Yes." Helena nodded in Cosima's direction, acknowledging the comment. Sarah rolled her eyes at her sister obvious brush off.

The drink arrived and Helena took a seat at Cosima's side instead of Sarah's. She started playing with the scientist's dreadlocks. Cosima looked at her in disbelief, and quickly looked at Sarah. She looked amused and was very silent.

"Uhm, Sarah. Can you make her stop?" Cosima was careful, but very uncomfortable.

"Nope" Sarah looked straight with a big smile.

"You have nice hair. Is it honey?" Helena questioned, completely seriously.

"No, it's wax." Cosima answered awkwardly.

"Okay." Helena said.

* * *

A few hours later, the clones headed back to the ship. Paul had returned to the ship soon after he and Beth ordered everything. Some things would be delivered to the ship, others they would have to stop at other stations. Beth and Alison came back together, and were laughing about something. The kids were behind, playing with each other.

The other three returned together. Fortunately for Cosima, Helena stopped playing with her hair, but she kept looking at it as if it were a different being. The clones all went inside, except Cosima. She stayed behind to smoke pot before coming in.

She sat on the ground after a while. It was dirty, but she didn't really care. She looking around the landing area. There was one other ship, smaller then theirs. It looked like a personal ship, scrapped out of left over pieces of older ships. She thought about all of the previous ships the parts were from and where they come from and all the species they might have met. She wanted to be a ship and meet every species.

Her ship thought were interrupted by a woman siting down across the room. Except, unlike her, they weren't resting and smoking. They were, or rather she was, crouched down. Her face was hidden. She had grey disheveled curly hair. As if feeling someone looking at her, the silver haired woman looked up.

Cosima has seen a human Neo before, but she had never seen a malnourished Neo before. One thing about the Neo is that they didn't manage to look exactly human. By transferring themselves into the human brain, one of their eyes became white, or whatever their original light was. They also had bright white hair. She has worked with a Neo on her research, and he had one orange eye. It was alarming at first, but she got used to it. The white hair was also very charming.

But what she was seeing in the woman wasn't charm. It was fear, sadness and hunger. She look destitute, like she needed help. She looked to be the same age as Cosima, but her hair did not look her age. Cosima felt a pang in her heart. She looked away finally, not being able to stand it anymore. She stood up and went to enter the ship. She didn't want to look back, but she did.

She couldn't stop herself for walking towards the woman. If any Intergalactic Police were to come through, they would probably shoot without asking questions. She was weak and abandoned. Cosima, against her best judgement, wanted to help. She went slowly. The Neo was no longer looking at her. When she approached she just waited for the white eyed woman to look up, to notice her. When she didn't, she introduced herself.

"Hi." The scientist said quietly. The Neo looked up. She was expressionless, or as expressionless as you could be under her condition.

"Hi." The Neo stared at her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, and then realized how stupid she sounded. The Neo just stared back. "Sorry, I know you're not okay, I just mean.. I don't know what I mean."

The Neo send a quick smile Cosima's way, who responded with one of her own.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Cosima asked.

"No. Thank You." The Neo said, with a think french accent. The Neo loved the French language, which is why they chose it as their own language. Of course, there were very few actual humans that actually spoke french as a first language now, but the Neo saw that as an advantage.

"I… Do you need a ride somewhere?" The clone had no idea what she was doing anymore. She just wanted to help. "I'm a astrobiologist. I can help. I know how to treat malnourished Neo."

"Why?"

"Why? I want to help you."

"Nobody else will. Why will you?" The Neo asked, genuinely curious.

"I… I don't know. You look like you need help."Cosima answer. It wasn't a very sophisticated answer, but she couldn't come up with anything different, anything better.

"Ok." The Neo answered, attempting to stand up. However, she was not strong enough, and she stumbled back to the ground. Cosima crunched and extended her hand. The Neo took the hand, and the scientist lay her other hand on the Neo's other arm, helping her up.

"I'm Cosima, by the way. I know you might not have a human name, but I thought you should know mine." Cosima said nervously.

"Cosima." The Neo tested her name. The other woman nodded with a smile. Her name sounded much better with a french accent. "Delphine."

NOTE: Guys, don't kill me. I'll eventually fix Delphine's hair, ok? I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

When Cosima got back, all clones were assembled in the kitchen. Helena was playing with the children and the new toys they got at the station. Beth was catching Sarah up with all the supplies she managed to get. Alison was by the sink, stocking food and cleaning supplies. Only Paul was nowhere to be seen, which was already expected at this point. She entered the kitchen carefully with Delphine arm's wrapped around her shoulder for support.

Delphine looked curiously around. She had never been in a human ship before, and while the Neo had to eat, they hardly kitchens. They mined stars for neon, which was their main food source. They generally had a special fridge in their living quarters to hold the neon. Once they adapted into human form, they ate lab made nutritional bars, which needed neither preparation nor refrigeration. They still had to consume neon, but less often. This was the only reason Delphine hadn't died yet.

"Hey" Cosima called attention to herself. The clones stopped what they were doing and looked at her. They noticed the Neo by her side, and their look turned to fear and apprehension. Helena, in turn, looked curious.

"What is that?" Alison was, unexpectedly, the first to react.

"This is Delphine. She needs help."

"You do realize she's a Neo, right?" Beth said patiently.

"Of course I do. All she need is a ride until the next station. I'll take care of her malnutrition and then she can go." She moved with the Neo to the table and sat Delphine into a chair, and stood behind her chair in a protective stance.

"How can you think this is a good idea in the current conflict?" Alison added.

"Alison, can we just talk outside?" Cosima monitored towards the door, not wanting the conflict to take place in front of the Neo.

"So you can gang up on me?" Alison said.

"Please." The scientist begged. She knew she couldn't convince them all at once and that Alison would be the hardest to convince.

Alison hesitated, but put down some of the supplies she was holding, and left the room. Cosima gave a hesitant smile to the two at the table, and quickly squeezed Delphine's shoulder in reassurance.

* * *

"I don't understand why you would want her here. She could be a spy, you know?" Alison didn't give Cosima a chance to even start talking.

"I don't know why I care either." The scientist decided to be open about it, hoping the other might sympathize. "But if we don't take her from the station, the next intergalactic police that stop by won't be as merciful, if she even survives that long. They will either shoot her, or space her, or even worse. She is completely inoffensive."

"Can you be certain of that?" Alison said defensively.

"I…I study the Neo. While I am an astrobiologist, I specialize in their race." Cosima came clean, albeit a little hesitantly.

"And you didn't mention that before?"

"Yeah… Sorry. It's just not that relevant. I only study them in labs, I don't actually get to interact with them. Not much, at least. I had a few visit once or twice where they saw what I had came up with, but nothing else." Cosima explained herself. She wasn't sure the mom would give in, but she had to try.

"Ok. We will need to talk about that later as a group. It is very important that we know that sort of information. Regardless, we have another thing to discuss." Alison brushed her off.

"Look, all of you have someone. You have your kids, Sarah has Helena, and Beth has Paul. I'm the only one that came on my own. I hope that one day we'll be able to be close enough to be there for each other, but we're not. Having Delphine here will give me something to do, someone to take care of. She can stay with me at all times, I'll supervise her if you want. But please, let her stay. Just until next station." Cosima begged, voice was rough by the end, and Alison was impressed the clone was not crying. Her eyes were pleading with the mom.

Alison took a deep breath and gave a short nod. Cosima sighed with relief. She looked about to give the other clone a hug, but managed to keep to herself.

"You couldn't say this in front of all of us? I'm not the only one you need to convince." Alison questioned.

"Well, not Sarah. I have that favor. But by convincing you, I also have Beth on my side, and that's all we need. I mean, by the looks Helena was giving Delphine, I'm sure she'll be ok with her staying. I don't need to use my favor just yet." Cosima answered with a confident smirk.

"Very well" Alison pursed her lips, and went back to the kitchen, with Cosima soon following her.

* * *

"We're putting this up for a vote. Everyone write their vote down." Alison said once both her and Cosima were seated at the table, and the mother passed a few sheets of paper and pens around.

"Wait, that is not what we agreed!" Cosima exclaimed.

Alison smiled back at her.

"We can't be unfair, everyone should have their say!" Alison said mischievously.

Cosima wanted to complain, but knew there was no hope.

"You are ridiculous, you know that?" Cosima rolled her eyes.

"Ok, write_ yes_ for her staying, and _no_ for her leaving, fold it up and put it at the middle of the table. Last chance for you to say something, Cosima." Alison said pointedly ignoring the other clone.

"Ok… Alright, Sarah, I'm calling in that favor now." Cosima mumbled, not wanting to risk the chance of not getting to help the Neo.

Alison smiled widely, Sarah huffed in annoyance, and Beth shook her head. It was obvious Cosima was trying to avoid having to use that vote, and that Alison just made her do it. Which meant that Cosima wasn't confident enough in the mom's decision. With her mind made up, Beth wrote down her response.

Once all four clones wrote down their answer, Alison read them out

"Ok, 3 yes, and 1 no. Seem like she's staying." Alison huffed out. Even though she voted yes, she still didn't like the idea of the Neo staying. "But I will take you up on the supervision. When she's not in your room, you better be around."

"Thank you." Cosima reached out for Alison's hand, even though the decision wasn't all hers. Alison nodded back when the scientist squeezed her hand.

"I have thing to organize, so if you'll excuse me." Alison pulled out and went back to the sink to organize supplies.

"I'll tell Paul we're ready to go. I also think it's better if we don't tell him she's here" Beth gestured towards Delphine. "He keeps out of meals, so that shouldn't be a problem."

The others consented, and Beth left. With more seats available at the table, Helena moved closer to the Neo. She started playing with the Neo's hair, and the other clones looked amused at the action. Delphine just tensed up and looked at Cosima in question.

"Helena likes hair. She was obsessed with mine for a very long time while we were at the station." Cosima smiled, glad that at least one the clones wasn't against the Neo. The scientist didn't let Helena continue, however. She touched Helena's hands and brought them down from her hair. "Delphine needs rest, alright? If she'll let you, you can play with her hair later."

Helena nodded with a childish smile in Cosima's direction. "You have nice eyes." Helena said to Delphine.

"Thank you, you do too." The Neo spoke for the first time. Helena's smile widened up.

"I'm hungry, Alison." Helena quickly changed her attention to the other clone. Alison went to a cabinet and got some crackers out.

"Here." She gave some to Helena, and seeing the look of hunger in Delphine's eye, to the Neo as well. "Now I want you all out of my kitchen. I have things to do. Helena, will you please take my kids to my room and look over them?"

The clones, the kids and the Neo soon were gone from the kitchen.

**Up next: More Beth and Alison bonding (and fighting). Soccer cop has definitely sneaked up on me. I wasn't expecting to be enjoying those two as much as I am. It'll probably be a little longer for cophine to go anywhere, but I'll try to make them more present. See you next week!**


	5. Chapter 5

NOTE: So... last chapter's note? I lied. No soccer cop just yet. There is some cophine. I'm not too proud of this chapter., but we have some more plot. I had one final scene that I deleted because I wrote it in a hurry, and it's one very important (to me at least), so I wanted to give it more time. I won't make any promises, but next chapter should be almost completely cophine and soccer cop. It is 4th of July this week, so if you don't hear from me next week, you'll know why.

* * *

Cosima entered her room, holding Delphine up. Her neck and back complained at the strain, but she didn't complain. She moved the Neo to her bed, which thankfully wasn't too far from the door. The room was small. The distance between her head and the ceiling was about two heads, less for Delphine. The room was rectangular in shape. A bed was placed in one of the walls and a desk on the other. The space between the two could fit 3 people, at most. It was tight, but it wasn't uncomfortable nor claustrophobic. At the back of the room, there was a door, leading to the bathroom. Cosima had already made it her own, with papers scattered everywhere, and a few vials and pots. In addition, she had it set up for music to start playing whenever she entered the room. The music had a slow beat, and playing quiet enough that it was not recognizable.

Cosima helped Delphine sit down.

"Do you want a shower first?" There was an obvious layer of dirt on the Neo's skin. You'd think that they were technologically advanced enough to get rid of dust in fueling stations, but it was not the case.

The Neo looked hesitant.

"It's right over there, and I'll be right here if you need anything." Cosima pointed to the door, trying to reassure the grey haired Neo.

"I'm not sure I'm strong enough." Delphine responded quietly. Cosima was about to respond that it was fine, and that she could help. But she was scared of seeing the Neo without the protection of her clothes. She know that she will be thin, unhealthily thin, and she couldn't deal with the thought of seeing her like that.

"Alright. Why don't you lay down, I'll ask the others if we have any spare neon light bulbs."

Once the Neo was down, Cosima left after taking one last look at the Neo. Even dirty, malnourished and weak, the clone still found her beautiful and captivating.

* * *

_Message log, 2343. Time stamp 3:00pm earth time._

_H: Captain, how is the flight going?_

_P: It is going well. No major conflicts so far. _

_H: Good. Try to keep it that way. There have been conflicts in other vessels that did not end well._

_P: Anything specific I should look out for? _

_H:There have been spacings. Some are left behind when fueling. We've had one major accident, where one of the clones was a hidden Neo. It went bad for that ship. They are dust now. _

_P: No risk of that here, right? They've all been screened?_

_H: Of course. You are carrying a special group._

_P:Special how?_

_H: That's confidential. Just make sure there are no fights, deaths or any trouble. Report any suspicious activity. Keep an eye out for the Neo. They have managed to find their way to other vessels as well, but we've managed to remedy the situation before it got ugly._

_P: About the ship, I thought the Neo were trying to steal the bodies, not destroy them._

_H: We believe they got the bodies and then it blew up. _

_P: But no confirmation?_

_H: All that was left was dust. Not even a black box. We did find parts of the box, and there was a large amount of fuel residue where the accident happen. That is all I can say without going into confidential information._

_P: I have to go, I'm receiving a distress signal._

_H: Very well, Captain. Be careful._

* * *

"I'm receiving a distress signal. I'm stopping by to see. I want all of you in your rooms. Beth, I need you with me. Bring your gun." Paul announced.

Once both the ex-cop and the pilot were suited up, they pinged the other ship.

"You've requested help?" Paul questioned.

"Yes. Yes. Thank you. My ship has a gas leak. The rest of my crew left in a escape pod a few days ago, and they've yet to return. Left me behind, those bitches." A man with an english accent responded.

"Do you need a ride to the next fueling station?"

"Yes, please. I can even bring our food supplies as payment."

"No need, I'm IGP."

"Oh." The man responded, a little hesitant. "Alright. I'll pack up and open the doors."

Beth and Paul entered the other vessel. It was obviously a pirate ship. They followed none of the regulations expected, and the ship was in a state of disarray.

The man looked as one would expect from a pirate ship. He had short black hair, with long bangs. He was very thin, and wore a white see-through tank top. The look was completed with a black tight skinny jeans, and combat boots.

"Hey... Oh, wow." The man said staring at Beth.

"Yes, can I help you?" Beth responded impatiently. Being a cop meant she automatically disliked the guy. Pirates brought too much trouble.

"I'm still not used people that look like my sister strolling around. It's freaky."

"Is that all you have?" Paul pointed towards some bags by the mans side.

"Yep." The guy responded with a flirty smile.

"We'll have to go through them before you can go in." Beth stated.

"Alright. Get on with it." The man rolled his eyes with a sigh. He threw his bags toward the two others, who opened the bags and went through them.

Paul, of course, ended up with the bag with all the man's underwear. The pilot blushed and avoided eye contact, while the other man just smirked.

"Lastly, I need an ID." Paul said once both he and Beth were done.

"If you want my name, just ask." The man said with a wink.

Then there was no reaction from the two, the man rolled his eyes, and gave Paul his ID.

"Alright, Felix. You're all set. Get on a suit and follow us to our ship."

Once the man was gone, Beth turned to Paul.

"Is he allowed in our ship?" Beth questioned.

"Yes. No major charges. Seems he's just your old recreational drugs illegal supplier."

"A drug dealer? You think that's someone ok to have on the ship?"

"Yes. It's a minor charge. Drug dealing is dealt differently by the IGP, and you know that."

Beth didn't say anything, knowing there was no point. It was hard to conciliate the differences between living in space and living in a planet.

"Ready when you are." Felix came back in a bright green suit that looked too tight to be safe.

* * *

The three of them headed to the medical bay on the lowest floor on the ship. Felix kept looking around, clearly impressed with the ship. Once they reached the med bay, they did not find it empty. The scientist was there, working on something. Something very important, aparently, because she didn't even notice them arriving.

"Hey, Cosima!" Beth said.

"Hey, what's up?" The other clone responded without taking her eyes out of her work.

"We need the space for our new guest." Beth added when it looked like the scientist wasn't moving anytime soon.

That got her attention. She was about to agree, and say it was a good idea, when she saw a man with them. Not her guest, then.

"What are you doing here, anyway? I thought I said to everyone to go to their rooms." Paul added, angry at the clone for blatantly disobeying him.

She looked at him, about to say something back, but changed her mind.

"I'm the doctor here, so technically this is my room too." And all the other clones didn't obey you either. She didn't say that out loud, though. No need to get the others in trouble too.

"Not anymore. He's staying here now." Paul said.

"Where am I going to work now?"

"Aside from the incident with Alison, your services weren't needed. I'm sure you can continue whatever you are doing in your room." Paul was getting irritated with the clone. There was no need to make such a fuss.

"Whatever, dude." She started packing her thing up.

"Thanks, Cos." Beth added, trying to calm the situation. "This is Felix, by the way." The man, Felix, waved awkwardly. She gave a small smile his way. He finally got a chance to notice that Cosima was also another clone. With the hair and the glasses he barely noticed.

"How many of you are there? Is this like a clone club ship or something?" Both clones laughed at that, and Paul left ignoring Felix. Beth left after that, and Felix and the scientist were the only ones left. Cosima continued packing, while Felix looked around.

* * *

"This is a nice ship. I know its IGP, but still. I thought they only had ships like this in the promos."

"It's a cargo ship, so they probably rarely use it. You know the IGP, they hit before they talk."

"Don't I know it sister."

Cosima took an already made joint.

"I'm Cosima"

"Do you mind?" She asked, sitting in the desk she was just working on.

"Not if you share it." Cosima light it up, took a drag, and passed it to Felix. "I like you better then the other one. She doesn't like me."

"She's a cop. Well, was a cop."

"That explains it. Things can get ugly with drugs in most colonies. That's why I keep out."

Cosima nodded in acknowledgment, and took the joint from Felix.

"I have to go. You can finish it." She handed it back, and left.


	6. Chapter 6

Delphine woke up disoriented, confused about her location. She looked around, and seeing a threaded woman sitting by the desk, her memory was refreshed. The human was focused on something on the table, her nose scrunched in an adorable way. The Neo smiled to herself, glad that Cosima had found her in the station. She had at that point given up any hope of surviving. Yet, this strange woman had offered a ride, her bed, and a place to stay. She knew it wouldn't last long, she would be kicked out as soon as they stopped anywhere, yet she felt hope. Maybe the humans would change their mind. Maybe she would finally find a place where she belongs. A place, as the humans would say, to call home.

She sat up in bed, not confident enough that she would be able to stand up. She managed to sit up, but nothing else. She got hit by a wave of dizzynesss that soon settled into an uncorfortable buzz. The movement got Cosima's attention, and the clone turned around. The scientist got up, and sat by the Neo's side.

"Hey. How do you feel?"

The Neo's hand fidgeted in her lap. If the scientist didn't know better, she would have thought the other woman was a drug addict of some kind. She did know better, so all she could see was the effect of low neon. She held her hand out and stopped the fidgeting.

"I'm ok, giving the circumstances." The Neo responded quietly. She grabbed one of Cosima's hand on both of hers. She traced the palm on the other woman, admiring the softness of her skin. As a Neo, she had a was still impressed by the ability to touch. She, however, had learned that it is not a thing that humans do to each other lightly. They need to have some sort of intimacy for it to happen, and she appreciated that Cosima didn't pull back. The Neo in general didn't behave keep to themselves, seeing as when you are a ball of light, touch is kind of hard. They took advantage of every change they had to touch each other and other humans. Delphine understood human culture, however, so she kept to herself most of the time. But with Cosima she found it hard.

Both of them kept silence while Delphine examined Cosima's hand. Eventually Cosima gasped at the soft touched, which brought them both out of the trance. The alien returned the scientist's hand to her lap, and stopped playing with it.

The clone stood up and turned off the lights. The room was not completely dark, though. Despite Delphine's malnutrition and dimness, her eye emitted enough light to light up her face. That froze up Cosima, who was still shaken up over Delphine's gentleness. In this light, the alien's skin looked soft to the touch, and Cosima had to control herself and not give in. The light from Delphine's eye was haunting, but it gave the greyheaded woman an aura.

"Cosima?" Delphine asked, getting unconfortable over the clone's stare. It took a while for the clone to snap out of it, but eventually she did.

"Yes?" Cosima's voice was hoarse. She cleared her throat. When she noticed that the alien wasn't planning on saying anything, she resumed her previous task, and moved toward the desk. She removed the protective plastic sheet, and unscrewed one light bulb. She set it on the table, and turned the lights back on.

Cosima went to the bathroom, and came back with a wet towel. She handed both to Delphine, and stood back.

"We don't have left over bulbs, so that will have to do for now. I'll try to synthesize some neon later on, but the others might not be willing to give away their breathing air so you can should be fine, however. I'll leave you to it, let me know when you are done, I'll be just outside."

Delphine nodded and watched as the human left the room.

She took a deep breath. She took the towel and wrapped around one of the ends of the neon light. She made enough force to brake it, which was a considerate amount in her state. She moved the light closer to her nose, and removed the towel. She inhaled the neon vapor. Her eye automatically became brighter, as did her hair. What was greyish had become a light silver, similar in tone to mercury.

On shaky legs, the Neo moved to the door, and opened it. The clone, standing opposite, to the door, froze.

"Wow."

"Quite different, yes?"

"Definitely. It looks like you hair is metal." Cosima responded, amazed at the color.

"It's just hair. You can touch it."

Cosima moved closer and raise her hand to touch it. While the hair was rough from being so long without being washed, it was still hair.

"I've seen Neo before. They always have white hair. I didn't think there was another option." Cosima said, and lowered her hand.

"I'm special." The Neo said with a smirk. Cosima was speechless. She didn't know if Delphine was joking, making fun of her, or something else. She was definately hoping it was something else.

The clone laughed after a while.

"Yeah, yeah. You are a dirty special Neo. Go back inside and take a shower. I'll get you some of my clothes to wear. Alison is going to throw a fit if you get into her kitchen looking like that."

The Neo rolled her eyes, and went back in, with the clone behind her. Once Cosima got her some jeans and a tank top, she handed them to Delphine, and left the room to give her privacy.

* * *

Beth headed to the kitchen, hoping to find Sarah. She really needed to punch something right now. It seemed that her violent streak had been on full force lately. She knew why, of course. Five years ago she had killed her first person as part of the job. That led her to depression, which led to therapy, and more medications that she could keep up with. After a while she stopped trying to keep up, and just took them whenever she was feeling anxious or angry. Her control over her feelings made her stable enough to convince everyone, including her doctor, that she was fine.

She wasn't, and she kept taking the medicine. As a police woman, she could order them online, no questions asked. When there were questions, she brushed them off, and convinced whoever was questioning her that she was fine. Paul, of course, was never convinced. Maybe that's why their relationship had been going downhill the last few years. She was numbing her emotions, while Paul watched hopelessly. The fact that he hadn't tried to help her went straight through the cop. She didn't know any better.

So here she was, without any of her pills. She tried to sneak them in, but Paul, for the first time, was watchful and made sure she didn't bring any with her. He also followed her around when they were at the station, so she couldn't order some.

The worst was that aside from her constant anger, she rarely felt anything else. She didn't feel anything for Paul anymore, and she no longer could use the excuse of it being her meds. The only peace to her anger was Alison. She managed to give Beth some peace. Maybe because the other clone was constantly angry as well, but when the mother was around, she came as close as she had in years to feeling something.

The object of her contemplation was sitting by the table, a bottle of wine and a full cup in front of her. There was no one else around. She thought about leaving, somewhat uneasy with the calmness that was surely to come over her if she were to talk to Alison.

Seeing her enter, the other clone smiled.

"Mind if I join you?" Beth asked Alison, changing her mind about leaving.

"Not at all." The other clone responded, taking a sip of wine, and hiding a small smile.

Beth went over to the kitchen area and grabbed a clean cup from one of the cabinets. She sat down opposite to Alison, who filled up her cup as soon as she sat.

"This is really good wine. You have good taste." Alison said, with an unexpected slur. Beth noticed the almost empty bottle.

"How long have you been here?" Beth asked, wondering if she had even gone to her room as Paul ordered.

"A while." The other clone answered without any more information.

"Where are your kids?" Beth said concerned. They didn't exactly have anywhere to run, but a ship wasn't necessarily the safest place for kids.

"Playing hide and seek with Helena. At least they were a few hours ago."

"Should I conclude nobody actually went to their room when we left?"

Alison pouted, and took another drink.

"It could have been dangerous." Beth said seriously.

"You'd protect me." Alison responded with a lazy smile. Beth looked around to see if she could find another empty bottle of wine, and found one in the kitchen sink.

"You drank 2 bottles by yourself?" Beth asked, worried. It was very unlike the mom to drink in a potentially dangerous situation, while her kids were playing somewhere else.

"Sarah helped with the other one."

"And you didn't fight each other?" Beth was surprised.

"She's a good drinking buddy. She's quiet." Alison added sleepily.

At that moment, Felix entered the kitchen.

"How many of you are there?" He stared at Alison.

"Alison, this is Felix. He's the passanger we picked up from the other ship."

"Hi." Alison looked at the man intensely. "Are you dangerous?"

"I am... What, I am dangerous? I don't think so?" Felix responded trying to figure the mom out.

"See, no danger." Alison slurred.

"Is she drunk?" He asked Beth.

"Seems like it." Beth responded shortly.

Knowing he probably had the pills that she so desired made Beth dislike him. While she still wanted them, and would not hesitate to ask him, she was angry that she would so easily fall back to old habits. She couldn't say that she was actually trying to stay away from the drugs, but so far she had managed. She was confused about her feelings, and taking out on him.

"Seriously though, how many of you are there actually? Or are the three of you all there are."

"Three? I thought there were five." Alison said, clearly confused. Felix looked at the mom curiously.

"There are five, Ali. He only met Cosima."

Alison nodded and then smiled at the nickname.

"I like it when you call me Ali." The mom said. The cop smiled back.

Felix didn't say anything, but clearly saw that there was something going on between the two.

"The other two are Sarah and Helena, they are sisters." Beth said, keeping her focus on Alison. The mom was holding her head up with her hands, and was almost nodding off.

"Sarah and Helena? As is British accent Sarah and batshit crazy blonde Helena?"

"I wouldn't talk like that about Helena. She slapped me on the first day when I made a comment like that." Alison mumbled, pouting again.

"Your sisters, I assume." Beth said.

"Yeah. You know where Sarah is?" Felix said, excited to see his sister after so long.

"You're guess as good as mine. I came here..." Beth was interrupted by a very loud snore of a sleeping Alison.

"I need to take her to her room. She might be at her room, the engine room, or the cargo bay. There's a map over there." She pointed to a map that was hanging by the door.

Beth grabbed a glass of water with her left hand, and picked the drunk clone up with her right side. The mom mumbled, but followed Beth's lead.

* * *

The cop carried the mom without much difficulty. Boxing had helped her keep her shape, and she was thankful for it. She entered the her own dark room, and turned on the light. She didn't want to risk the children seeing their mom drunk. She dropped the mom on her bed. She and Paul decided to not share a room. He was a very private person, so she didn't even bring it up. She was glad for it now.

She fixed Alison position, so she was laying down with her stomach up. She sat down beside her and looked at the mom, and seeing that her hair was covering her face, she moved it away. Her hand stilled, and Alison mumbled in her sleep. Beth smiled. The mom looked adorable sleeping. She wasn't relaxed as one would expect, she was frowning. Nonetheless, Beth was entranced with her. She started to lightly play with Alison's hair.

After a few hours, the mom woke up. Beth's whole body was complaining, but she was ignoring it. She smiled at the woman.

"Good afternoon, sleepy head." Beth said quietly.

"Ugh... What time is it?" The mom squinted.

"Around 5." Beth continued to play with Alison's hair, despite her being awake.

"I would be yelling at you for not waking me up, but I'm already talking loud enough." Alison looked in pain.

"Should I get Cosima? You look in pain." Beth joked, and stilled her hand. That made the other clone notice what she was doing, but she didn't say anything.

"Please don't. I'll never hear the end of it." Alison groaned.

"Your secret is safe with me." Beth winked.

"I need to make dinner." Alison attempted to get up, but Beth kept her down.

"You're fine where you are. Me and the others will take care of dinner. Today will be your day off." Beth smiled. She held Alison's hand, and the clone responded by moving her thumb.

"You're too nice to me, you know?"

"I'm just a nice person all around."

"And modest too. Now I see what Paul sees in you. Couldn't possibly be the looks." Alison shot back. Her smile gave a way her true intentions.

"Did you just call me attractive?"

"Not at all, I just called you very unattractive." Alison winked. "Now all that's left is figuring out what you see in him." Beth was speechless. _Was Alison flirting with her?_ What was going on with the mom. First, she's getting very drunk, and now she's flirting. This is very uncharacteristic for the closed off mom. Of course, she was often more open around Beth then she was with the others, but nothing like this.

"I think you're still drunk." Beth said.

"Might be. But I still don't know what you see in him. He treats you like garbage, he's rude, and you're rude right back." Alison said, genuinely curious now. Beth closed off right away, and Alison, in her slightly drunk, very sleepy state almost regretted bringing it up.

"It's just how we are. You don't seem like one to give relationships advice. I didn't notice you bringing someone." Beth said defensively. She left the bed and moved to sit by the desk opposite from the bed, creating distance between the two.

"You're right that I'm not the best on this. I mean, my loving husband of 10 years just up and left me when he was told we were supposed to leave. He said he couldn't leave, he was needed there." Beth softened a little bit, but she kept her distance.

"What about the kids?" Beth said quietly.

"We went to court. For no reason, since we had already decided that if we were to split, I would keep them. He just liked making my life more difficult." Alison answered. "Which is why you should leave him while you have the chance. You're not even married and you already have an unhealthy and unhappy relationship." The mom added in anger. Beth's eye went cold again.

"I'll start dinner with the others." The cop left without looking back.


End file.
